Air India plane with 244 aboard crashes in northwest India minutes after takeoff

An Air India passenger plane with 244 people onboard has crashed in India’s northwestern city of Ahmedabad, the airline and local media report.

Visuals on local television channels show smoke billowing from the crash site near the airport in Ahmedabad.

Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, the director general of the Directorate of Civil Aviation, tells The Associated Press that Air India flight AI 171, a Boeing 787, crashed into a residential area called Meghani Nagar five minutes after taking off at 1:38 p.m. local time.

The flight was bound for London’s Gatwick Airport.

There were 232 passengers and 12 crew members onboard, and emergency teams have been activated at the airport, Kidwai says.

The 787 Dreamliner is a widebody, twin-engined plane. This is the first crash ever of a Boeing 787 aircraft, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.

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